Road safety remains a pipe dream

On an average day, 415 persons are killed in various road accidents in the country. Similarly, more than three and a half lakh persons are rendered physically challenged in these accidents annually. India accounts for just 1 per cent of the total automobiles in the World. Yet 6 per cent of road accidents take place in our country. Altogether 11 per cent of the World’s total road accident mortalities take place in India.

Hyderabad: Every journey commences with the hope that it will end on the happy of reaching of destination. Can there be a greater tragedy than the end of the life journey itself during one of such journeys? Road safety has become a myth in the country as road accident ruin lakhs of families in the country.

In continuation of this tendency, recently four persons died and 20 others sustained severe injuries when their bus fell to a depth of 200ft while negotiating a dangerous curve near Visakhapatnam, returning from renowned tourist spot Araku valley in Andhra Pradesh. The victims were from Telangana. Closely following this, 14 persons died in another road accident in Kurnool district of the same State. Last month, 13 girls died in a road mishap in Karnataka. As many as 15 labourers, sleeping by the road-side were crushed under a speeding vehicle in Gujarat. Before the nation recovered from the shock caused by this grisly accident, 14 persons died in a West Bengal mishap. The list of these mishaps remains unending.

On an average day, 415 persons are killed in various road accidents in the country. Similarly, more than three and a half lakh persons are rendered physically challenged in these accidents annually. India accounts for just 1 per cent of the total automobiles in the World. Yet 6 per cent of road accidents take place in our country. Altogether 11 per cent of the World’s total road accident mortalities take place in India.

India and Japan stand on the same footing so far as road accidents are concerned. However, less than 5000 people die in Japan’s road mishaps annually. In contrast, more than 1.5 lakh mortalities take place in India’s road accidents every year. The observation of road safety weeks commenced over 32 years ago. However, mortalities in road mishaps increased by five folds in this period, putting a big question mark on people’s right to life. The Center has recognized road accidents to be more dangerous than Covid. But has it taken adequate steps to ameliorate the situation?

The United Nations had declared 2011 to 2020 as the decade for action against road accidents. It was aimed to protect the lives of at least 50 lakh prospective victims of road accidents around the World in this period. The Brasilia declaration of the year 2015 had announced its aim of a 50 per cent reduction in the road accident mortalities by the year 2020. But the objective was thrown to the winds. The country witnessed 13 lakh deaths in road accidents and 50 lakh people were reduced to a vegetable state in the same period.

More than 61 per cent of these mortalities take place on national and State highways, which constitute less than 5 per cent of the road network in the country. Among the deceased, more than 70 per cent belong to the 18-45 years age group. The World Bank conducted a study to assess the impact of road accidents on Indian society. It has come to the conclusion that 75 per cent poor families suffered a drastic loss of income due to road accidents. These road accidents are causing a loss of around Rs 7 lakh crore to the country’s GDP. Hence cannot be taken lightly any more.

Experts opine that unless steps like the use of technology, promotion of awareness, strict implementation of law and emergency safety measures were strengthened, no palpable positive results can be achieved in this regard. As over-speed has been identified as the reason behind the tendency, steps like promotion of scientific awareness among drivers, correction of dangerous road curves and others should be taken immediately. Closing down of liquor outlets along the national highways is also as much important.

Safe journey will be possible only when road safety is turned into a social responsibility with coordinated efforts from the governments, citizens and civil society.